Summer Road Trips: 11-18

TEEN YEARS 11-18: Connections to Go

By paving the way for questions and dialogue, car trips present an opportunity for parents to bond with tweens and teens. Before pulling out of the driveway, let older kids know that you’re expecting some family chat during the trip; set media limits so teens aren’t texting or zoning out in front of a screen for miles on end. Equip teen shutterbugs with a camera to document the trip (added bonus: you may end up with some unique, frame-worthy shots). Tweens and teens can join in more intellectual travel games like “Dictionary” in which each player says a word, and others have to guess if it’s real or made-up; or “Who’s in the Next Car?” where travelers invent life stories for the people in neighboring cars. Question-and-answer books such as “If … Questions for Teens” (Kindle Edition, $11.99), by Evelyn McFarlane and James Saywell, can help get the car chatter rolling.

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